江湖路弯弯: Jianghu Road is Curved! Chapter 42

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

Mutation

In front of the Prison of Chaos, the prison guard opens the doors with a pair of trembling hands, very uneasily watching the honoured figures before him.

Young Palace Master he has seen before, but why did he bring along a disabled young lady here, it is well known to all that this Prison of Chaos contains unpredictable dangers, those without excellent skills in martial arts cannot come down here, why would Young Palace Master carry an extra baggage, could it be this lady has some sort of hidden skill?

“You really want to go looking down there?” Young Palace Master turns to the young lady.

“Of course,” The young lady resolutely answers without any hesitation.

And so under everyone’s watchful eyes, Young Palace Master lifts up the disabled young lady, and leaps into the mouth of the cave.

Clothing fluttering, the wind like cutting blades.

“Jin Di Luo, bring along the wheelchair!” A steady command sounds from within the cave.

Bodyguard Jin who had not revealed himself for a long time sounds a reply, picking up that wheelchair and also jumps down.

The remaining number of people at the entrance, were left in a ‘you look at me I look at you’ situation, all exchanging eye contact.

Inside the Prison of Chaos, east side.

Pang Wan feels that she has indeed underestimated He Qing Lu, the wheelchair she is sitting in right now, not only has a manual control to raise and lower the position, but also have a very humanised shock absorption system, greatly easing the pain of moving forward.

——this person is a genius! She cannot help feeling speechless at heart.

The two people in front had already discovered Tu Su’s ice cold corpse.

“……there are no wild beast footprints at all.” He Qing Lu squats on the ground, dipping his hand into the soil and brings it to his nose, “Nor is there any smell of blood.”

“This subordinate has seen the corpse of the two-headed python, its body suffering a loss of over half its blood, even Hall Master Mei has lost two thirds of her blood.” Jin Di Luo stands guarding behind Pang Wan, his voice dull, “The bloodstains are but only a small fraction.”

He Qing Lu observes the speckles of black on the ground, solemnly saying: “Looks like the blood drained very slowly, they died very painfully.”

Pang Wan is at complete loss from their conversation, pushing the wheelchair forward. “How do you know?” She is very curious.

He Qing Lu frowns, he doesn’t really want to explain to this silly lady, but also cannot handle the sparkling look of expectation in her eyes, and could only point at the bloodstains, saying: “The outline of every speck of blood appears round, clearly showing that the blood have slowly dripped to the ground from a height, the bodies of Ci Gu and the two hall masters contains at least several tens of kilograms of blood in total, unless someone had used an extremely exceptional method, the blood here would definitely have splattered everywhere.”

“The blood left behind at the scene is so little, there can only be one reasonable explanation, being that the blood had long been lead elsewhere, the occasional few drops that spilled have also encountered an obstacle, thus forming a round shape when it falls.” He raises his brows.

“Can it possibly be a bloodsucking ghost?!” Pang Wan exclaims out loud. (Bloodsucking ghost is the literal term for vampire in Chinese)

He Qing Lu glances at her, placid as usual: “Don’t know about ghosts that sucks blood, but this cave indeed has bloodsucking bats.”

As if to confirm his words, a strange shadow suddenly makes a silent appearance on the cave wall, following the flickering of candlelights, its suddenly big and suddenly small, strange to the extreme.

Pang Wan instantly pales upon seeing this, big brother! Are you here on an outing? In such a dangerous moment, you don’t draw out a sword or raise a knife, why must you pull out a toy bird of all things?

But seeing Jin Di Luo’s one raise of a hand, that wooden carrier pigeon goes “hu-la-la” flying forward, but does not enter the pitch black depths.

Wind rises and falls, the shadow still remains absolutely motionless.

“It’s probably a rock falling into the candleholder.” Jin Di Luo sighs in relief, that wooden carrier pigeon circles the air and returns to his hand.

Who knew right after his voice sounded, a burst of loud sound like animal claws stroking a mirror rises, at the same time, fire torches instantly extinguishes. In this moment of the entire world entering complete darkness, the strange shadow on the wall lunges towards the people in the cave like a whistling wind.

Pang Wan subconsciously takes out her golden whip and lashes it out into the air.

She does not know what this thing is, but the thoughts in her mind are extremely clear —— I must protect myself.

The golden whip sounds “hu-hu” as it flies out, the strange shadow sure enough does not approach her as she had wished, just that for some unknown reason, the whip is intercepted in mid-air. Alarmed, Pang Wan reaches out, wanting to retrieve her golden whip, but did not expect for someone to strongly pull on the other end, thus tumbling forward as she is wrapped into an arm.

“Come with me.”

An icy cold chest, that chilling snake-like voice, all is so familiar.

Her heart which was hung high, instantly relaxes, Pang Wan sticks close to the person behind her, wanting to grab onto the lapel of his clothes to help herself stand.

With that one grab, she senses something’s not right, why are there only bits and pieces of torn fabric on his body? And even his muscles are so stiff?

The person behind obviously didn’t expect Pang Wan’s legs cannot move, he holds Pang Wan under his arm and drags her along without a word, Pang Wan is unable to control her balance in time, and falls to the ground with a sound of “pu-tong”.

“Ah!” She cannot help but to cry out in pain.

With this one cry, the light within the cave once again lights up, she raises her chin to take a closer look, He Qing Lu is currently holding a torch in her direction.

Don’t know whether it is because of the shine from the flame, but right now, his amber eyes are frighteningly bright.

Before she could call out, the big hand above her head rapidly hooks onto her collar, Pang Wan finds her body feeling light, toes off the ground as her entire being hangs in mid-air, turns out the person behind had already leaped onto the cave wall.

She had just wanted to protest, asking to at least change her position, when all that can be heard is a sound of “zheng”, a feather arrow grazes past her cheek as it shoots up.

A dull sound of “pu”, and that big hand hooking onto her trembles, Pang Wan also follows in shaking.

“Don’t harm my senior brother!”

She hastily cries out, all the muscles in her body tense.

“You sure that’s your senior brother?”

He Qing Lu lowers the violet-gold bow in hand, expressionlessly pressing his lips together, this gentleman brother sure doesn’t hold back on revealing his air of hostility.

Pang Wan looks up in wonder, and couldn’t resist being greatly shocked.

The person holding her, should be Nan Yi, yet also isn’t Nan Yi.

Or perhaps you could say, she has never seen this side of Nan Yi before.

The voice is his, features also looks very much like his, but that person is in ragged clothes, whole body of blood vessels excessively bulging, making his skin practically transparent, countless bluish purple vines winding around his body, just like some sort of mutation of an unknown creature, causing people to tremble in fear at one glance.

She suddenly recalls those people’s words: “There’s a monster in the prison.”

Seeing her look utterly stunned, a passing trace of unclear meaning flashes in the eyes of the one above her, followed by the tightening of his hand and the accelerated pace of his steps, carrying her as he steadfastly flees upwards.

Nan Yi is greatly angered, he originally wanted to let these two people go, who knew they would recklessly be unwilling to appreciate this. And so with not a word, he overturns his hand and strikes forward, only hearing a sound of “dang”, the frosty sword is thus folded into two halves as it falls into the abyss, only having the time to create two “du-du” bubbles in the molten lava before dying a heroic death.

Despite having experienced hundreds of battles, Jin Di Luo cannot help being struck with great shock right now: this is but a treasured sword forged with the ancient dark steel, how could it be so easily cut down by a human’s hand?

He dares not slack, immediately pulling himself together and begins attacking.

Nan Yi leisurely takes him on.

His left hand clutching onto Pang Wan, only using his injured right hand to fight Jin Di Luo, and actually still be able to quickly gain the upper hand. Pang Wan is dumbfounded at all this, she is truly shocked at heart, when did Senior Brother’s martial arts become so invincible?

Only hearing a sound of “ci-la”, and a huge piece of flesh on Jin Di Luo’s arm had been freshly dug out by Nan Yi, completely stripping the skin, so horrifying that one cannot bear to watch on.

Yet Nan Yi does not listen, his eyes are already seeing red, entire body of hostile air overflowing, his throat issuing a wild beast-like roar.

Peng! A golden arrow pierces through the air.

Nan Yi grabs it bare handed without a care, a hidden weapon like this truly is a piece of cake to him.

However the arrowhead instantly makes an incredible transformation the moment it comes in contact with his skin —— abruptly dividing into five parts, several unbreakable nails punctures his palm like strikes of thunderbolts, and embeds into Nan Yi’s chest.

Pu-chi pu-chi!

Too late to avoid, Nan Yi’s body trembles, holding Pang Wan as he staggers and falls from the cave wall.

“Let her go.”

He Qing Lu dominantly stands in his original spot, a body of moon-white robes spotlessly clean.

His eyes quietly still as they gaze at Nan Yi, as though inspecting a filthy monster.

Nan Yi coldly laughs as he crawls up from the ground, spitting out a mouthful of blood, starting to remove the nails in his body himself. Along with the sound of “pu-pu”, his chest rapidly bloats up just like a sponge absorbing water, and the correct amount of nails are forced out, all that remains on his torso are five shallow white prints, not even shedding a single drop of blood!

“Young Master! He is indeed a monster!” Jin Di Luo slides down from the cave wall, cold sweat lining his entire forehead.

He Qing Lu furrows his brows, he throws aside the bow in hand, taking out a two-edged silver sword from his waist side.

“Gentleman no!”

A cold flash passing her eyes, Pang Wan who had almost dizzily fell, finally awakens, she unconsciously spreads open her arms, blocking Nan Yi’s body like a protective mother hen.

He Qing Lu freezes, then presses his thin lips together.

Jawline tightening, knuckles turning white, right now, his heart is surging with monstrous rage, but manages to suppress it all thanks to the many years of good upbringing.

Pang Wan needs not look to be able to sense his fury —— her own senior brother has wounded his capable assistant, yet she doesn’t let him carry out the punishment, with that petty guy’s nature, always wanting to argue over the smallest matters, how could he not be mad?

“Gentleman, may I ask of you to allow me to speak to my senior brother.”

Helpless that the relationship between Nan Yi and her is not the best, she can only bite the bullet and plead him.

He Qing Lu’s face turns cold and does not answer.

Pang Wan just takes it as silent acceptance, turning to look at Nan Yi.

“You think I will lose against him?” Nan Yi sees her gazing at him with earnest eyes, the corners of his lips raising into a strange smile.

——no, I am afraid you cannot control yourself in the moment and kill them all.

Pang Wan does not dare to say what she is really thinking, and can only persuade him in an extremely gentle and submissive tone: “Senior Brother, right now my legs are injured with limited mobility, Gentleman He had permitted me to recuperate here, they all treat me very well, you need not worry.”

She originally wanted to add a sentence of “they’re not bad people”, but thinking about it, they are indeed not bad people, instead, she and Nan Yi are what the people of the world calls “bad people”, thus dropping the idea.

Nan Yi glances at her, his voice chilly: “I’ll take you back to recuperate.”

Pang Wan thinks for a bit, then says: “Senior Brother, did you not wish to see the Palace Master of Solitary Palace? This Gentleman He is Palace Master’s nephew, if we talk to him properly, we will definitely be able to see Palace Master……”

“I will not give him this opportunity.”

He Qing Lu’s ice cold voice suddenly sounds.

Pang Wan inwardly wails, instantly sensing a headache.

——this young master! Who are you throwing your temper at? Do you not see me placating this beast on the verge of erupting right now? Why would you be in such a hurry to cut the ground under my feet?

Nan Yi hears this and sure enough grows angrier: “As long as I snap your neck, that Palace Master or whatever will naturally come begging to see me himself, who needs for you to bother about it?”

Eyes seeing an imminent battle, in the moment swords were being drawn, a lively little tune suddenly sounds from the cave’s opening.

“Road to east, road to west, road to south, five li station, seven li station, ten li station, move one step, yearn one step, laze one step. All of a sudden, skies falls into dusk, day falls into dusk, clouds falls into dusk, setting sun spreads across the ground, head looks back to rising fog……”

Following this lazy hum, a person in messy clothing, looking careless and casual, saunters into the cave.

thank you!
glad wan wan can steal the whip!
pfft, he qing lu’s so, so jealous—! i wonder though, is nan yi definitely stronger than he qing lu?
also, ah, i likes that wan wan protected nan yi and tried to convince him! that’s good— wan wan, you are the coolest, and the only one that could diffuse the situation!
well, that person singing! i suspect it is the palace master himself! i mean, who else is high-ranking and strong enough to interfere in the battle of the elite young generation?!

also, wait! i forgot to mention that part where wan wan misunderstood he qing lu’s anger, lol! no, wan wan, he was angry because you would go against him to protect your senior brother! lol—! such jealousy, pfft!

so i assume the monster who spread terror in jiang hu in the early chapter is Nan yi himself, like a vampire or hulk for me. but i glad he still have conscious at least he’s not attacking people brutally, he still recognize wan wan. when i saw the picture’s post, my conclusion is, so finally the battle between the two prospective in-laws ( i still take NY for brother not male lead candidate)